Resilient tread for vehicle-wheels.



1. P. MURREY.

RESILIENT TREAD FOR VEHICLE WHEELS.

APPLICATION man FEB.19.1914.

1,156,620. Patented oct. 12, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

cOLUMmA PLANOGRAPH C0.. WASHINGTDN. n. c.

I. P. MUIIIIEY.

RESILIENT TREAD `FOR VEHICLE WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I9. I9I4.

1,156,620. y PaIenIed OCI. 12, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wreak# ed @@WM narran erarns rafrnivr lernten. f

Jes-PER r. MURRESL, or onn-vEL-AND, o-Hro.

To' all whom t mayfconoern-.f

Be it'lmownpthat I, JASPER l?. MURREL a citizenrof the United' States, residing at Cleveland, in4 the county of Cuyahoga and* State of? Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Besilientflreads for Vehicle-Wheels, of which the following is al full, clear and: exact description-z This invention is an improvement,` on the. resilient tread vfor vehicle wheels.Vv which forms the subject` matterjof my prior Patent No. 927,578. The essential characteristic-*of said prior construction is the employment of a plurality ofindependently movable tread plates, each ofwhich is underxthe in"- luence-of'two balanced' springs which, when the tread pl'ate'is in` its normal posi-tiomwill; act' in oppositel directions. thereon, so= that onewill resist i and the other assist the, initial; inward movement of said tread plate, said; springs `being arranged so that' as the tread platemoves inward theassisting spring will. gradually lose its assisting poweryand eventually become ar resisting spring. l v

The objects o-f the present invention areto provide a resilient tread forvehiclewheels whichf will retain the above" mentioned characteristics of construction and-mode of operation, but which shall be moredurable and `morefeiieient, shall be in a4 form' which can be manufactured economically, andiwillhave certainP additional'l practical advantages which will be hereinafter pointedout. l

The invention consists in the construction:

A and combination of parts; shown in the-drawing, andy hereinafter described Aand definitelypointedyout in the. appended claims.

Ins the vdrawing,Figure l isa side elevationfpartlysectioned' of'aportion ofa Iwheel provided with a resilient tread in'which the present invention `is embodied.v Fig. 2 is a sectional viewf through one of the treadplates and the associated' mechanism showing the position the parts will occupy vbefore theA springs have been4 put under tension, as hereinafter set forth. Fig. 3` isa radial sectionY through one tread plate and associated mechanism. Fig. L is a radial section inthe plane indicated by; linea-4' onFig. ,5-v of the treadplate and associated mechanism; Fig. 5'is a sectional view in the plane of line 5-5 on Fig. Zi; land Fig. xis a-view of the inner face of one of the tread, plates. Fig. 7k is 'atop view of one'tread plate.

Thev tread of the wheel is formed by a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application inea February'iaieie,

nnsILrnN'r TREAD Fon variations-WHEELS.

rammed' oet.. ie, i915?, seriarnb; sli-ejem.

large number of tread' plates A which a're mounted thewheel rim B1 This rim includes essentially two side flanges b, b', 'and a cylindricalY ase' member bl whichvinay bel made integralwith the flanges, as shown'in F1g;3 or independently of them, asf shown 1n( Figa 4. In thev4 latter construction: the an-y nular side; flanges b, b, are secured to 'the felly of` the wheel! F by belts f. e Eachk of the' tread platesA has projecting from. itsinnerface' four parallel' guifdezlegs @which pass' between the anges b, and" are inf substantiali Contact therewith', Eistancepieees C extendbetwe'en the flanges Zi, b, andarey secured? there by bolts c,

thereby the: flanges are held; in.e the required: relationl to.I oneV anotherzi One of these' distance piecesispl'aced between each pair of adjacenttread plate mechail-isms,v and' they areplaced' so that the'legsfa will engage two of these'distancefpieces andi be guided thereby, V so vthat-when force i isv applied to tread plate toI move it inward',e it will' move in: a substantially radial'V direction toward the axis of the' wheel; Associated', with each@ tread plate isa spring seat whichlis" fixedl eoY t'o-'the'rimfl member b1 and has integral with A into the' spacefbounded by the four: legs a and.Il 'engages'withf thelfinner" face offther associated tread plate. ff i A second yspring D which1 isn normally shorterthanspringE screws onto the boss g, andV is thereby anchored to the rim. A block K is fixed to "the oi'iter"en l'` orf-the spring D. Preferably it is externally threaded; the spirallywoundnspring D i screws' ontoVv it. This' block' K has: upon: its outer face'V an4 angularly shaped? boss/7c' which. v is intendefdtoifit intofthe vCorrespondingly shaped recess 'erin the'inner face of1 the tread plate.' lfow,Y when` the describedf parts' have been placed'iniV the describedC relationfto each other',l neithersp'ringfis under tension; andthe'partsv will bef'in substantially the` condition shown;

. outer faceof' thet'read plate; As this boltk is screwed in,-the*bloclr K and the 'tread' plate A will obviously be drawn toward each other, the latter movingY inward and the former moving outward. As the tread plate moves inward it will by reason or' its engagement with the outer end of the spring E compress the same and put it under tension.

As the block K is moved outward, it will ob" viously lengthen the spring D, :thereby putting it under tension. `When the bolt- J. has been screwed in far enough the angular boss le will have entered the recess a2 inthe inner face of the tread plate, and thereby any turning movement of block K, such as would disconnect it from spring D, will be prevented.

The two springs will automatically come to balance one another,#and the vposition of the tread plate will depend on the relative resistancevof the springs to being tensioned. rlhe spring D exerts its force in the direction to draw the tread plate inward. The spring E, however, resists this inward movement. rl`his makes the tread plate very sensitive to the initial movement inward from its normal position. When, therefore, a wheel provided with a tread composed oi tread plates A, eachk associated with the described mechanism, is turned, each tread plate as it comes into contact with the ground and begins to support the weight will begin an inward movement very readily. As it moves inward, however, the spring D `will shorten itself and will act with decreasing force in the direction to draw said tread plate inward, and will so act until by the inward movement of the tread plate the spring D has come to have its normal length. If the tread plate is moved in any farther, this spring D will with increasing force, resist this inward movement. Each of these tread plates furnishes therefore a very resilient support for the vehicle and begins to move from its normal position inward so easily7 that small inequalities in the road surface will hardly be felt in the vehicle. The increasing resistance of the two springs very soon, however, brings the tread plate to a standstill withY respect to its inward movement.

lt is conceivable, of course, that the springl D may break, and if it did, the associated tread plate would drop o of the wheel. To prevent this, one side of each of the legs a is provided near its inner end with an inwardly directed shoulder a3; and each of the distance pieces-C is provided with n-V gers c1, which extends to aposition outside of but in the path of these shoulders a3, so that .if the tread plate were disconnected f from the rim andv startedto come out, these shoulders a3, by engaging the ingers c1, would prevent it from coming out.

1. These tread plates which, as stated, form the tread of the wheel which contacts with the road should lie pretty close together.

1n `fact, they should lie as closeasthey can without interfering with one anothers action. There may be as many of them as are required; they may be of any desired size; and it is not at all essential to the invention that there shall be but one circumferential row of them, as shown in the drawing.

In the outer face of each tread plate numerous dove tailed grooves L4 will be formed; and they may be lled with asbestos, or rubber or any other suitable filling, which will act to very greatly decrease the noise which would otherwise result from the contacting oi the plates with the pavement. Likewise these grooves and iilling increase the traction power of the tread plates.

To prevent the bolt J from being accidentally unscrewed a cotter pin N is driven through holes in the wall surrounding the recess a5 and through a hole in the head of the bolt J.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination of a wheel rim having side flanges, a spring seat ixed to said rim and having an externally threaded boss extending radially outward therefrom, a coil spring which is screwed upon said threaded boss, an externally threaded block which is screwed into the outer end of said spring, a tread plate having guide members which pass between and engage said rim Hanges, a coil-spring which surrounds the coil spring iirst mentioned and engages said tread plate and said spring seat, a bolt passing through said tread plate and screwing into said externally threaded block, thereby expanding the iirst mentioned spring and compressing the other spring. f

2. The combination of a wheel rim having side flanges, a spring seat fixed to said rim and having an externally threaded boss extending radially outward therefrom, a coil spring screwed upon said threaded boss, an externally threaded block screwed into the outer end of said spring and has an external angular boss, a tread plate having guide members which pass between and engage said rim anges,-which tread plate has on its under face, an angular recess which receives the angular boss referred to, a compressed coil spring which engages at its inner end with said spring seat and at its outer end with said tread plate, a bolt passing through said tread plate and screwing into said externally threaded block thereby holding the angular boss in said angular recess.

3. The combination with a wheel rim, having two side .anges, spaced distance blocks which lie between and are secured to said side flanges, and a plurality of tread plates which lie outside of the rim flanges,- each of said tread plates having four legs which go between and have a guiding engagement with the adjacent side flanges and to yieldingly press said tread plate outthe two adjacent distance blocks,said legs ward.l Y Y having laterally projecting shoulders, pins In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix Iny lixed to said distance blocks and lying outsignature inthe presence of two witnesses.

side and in the path of said shoulders, a JASPER P. MURREY. spring lying between the tread plate and Witnesses: Y

the rim and inside of the space bounded by E. L. THURSTON,

the four legs of said tread plate, and acting L. I. PORTER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents cach, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

' Washington, D. C. 

